The analogy of holding a beach ball underwater illustrates the constant struggle that individuals with ADHD face in trying to manage and control their symptoms. It requires a tremendous amount of effort and concentration to keep these traits from surfacing, but they persistently try to resurface.
The beach ball is always trying to get to the surface. Two hands are required because the ball is always trying to slip away and rise to the surface.
That beach ball popping up when you least expect it is like ADHD impulsivity. It’s that urge to do something without thinking it through.
The distraction aspect of ADHD is akin to waves and currents that keep pushing the beach ball away. Just when you think you have it under control, your attention gets pulled in various directions, making it difficult to focus on the task at hand. When there’s distraction, which is like the waves and currents constantly pushing the beach ball away from where you want it to be. It’s tough to stay focused on a task when your attention keeps getting pulled in different directions, much like trying to keep that ball where you want it.
Emotional lability can be compared to the unpredictable behavior of the beach ball underwater. One moment, your emotions are calm and collected, but the next, they can erupt like the beach ball suddenly surfacing. It’s challenging to maintain emotional stability. Emotional lability is a bit like the unpredictable behavior of the beach ball underwater. One moment, you might be feeling fine, and the next, your emotions can bubble up unexpectedly, just like that beach ball suddenly surfacing. Emotional lability can be a rollercoaster, just like that unpredictable behavior of the beach ball underwater. We’ll work on ways to help you ride those emotional waves and find some stability.
When we get tired…it’s even harder to keep that beach ball underwater. When the ball does slip out of our control we end up sinking. We feel that all our efforts and energy suppressing our ADHD energy accomplished nothing.
The key to not getting exhausted and overwhelmed by your ADHD traits is to have them work for you. A beach ball is a lot of fun and shouldn’t be always kept underwater. That ADHD beach ball can actually help keep you afloat just like the energy you get from ADHD. The hyper-focus of ADHD can help get things done and the distractibility problems in out-of-the-box ways.
To have your ADHD traits work to your advantage but it does take work but in the end the proper scaffolding of technique and skills can save you energy to reach your goals faster.